


Ten Years

by AbsolutelyGarbage



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Complete, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-26
Updated: 2014-01-26
Packaged: 2018-01-10 04:31:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 474
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1155103
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AbsolutelyGarbage/pseuds/AbsolutelyGarbage
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ten years have passed and yet the memories still lie just beneath the surface ready to flood forth at the slightest provocation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ten Years

**Author's Note:**

> A sort of AU? More like predicted-future canon but w/e. JeanMarco angst because this popped up on my dash and gave me sads.

It was funny, if you asked Jean Kirschtein that morning if he was happy, really, truly, happy. He would have answered, quite honestly, yes. It had been thirteen years since he signed his life away to join the training corps, ten since he’d joined the scouting legion, and five since he’d found himself back in the training corps as the instruction.

As it turns out, this happiness was fragile, like a glass window in a hail storm. Ten years have passed and yet the memories still lie just beneath the surface ready to flood forth at the slightest provocation. It was one tiny, insignificant thing but it made all of Jean’s carefully constructed walls came crumbling down.

Jean, as an instructor, used similar rough techniques as his own instructor Keith Shadis had. Especially his “rite of passage” that took place on the first day. It made many new recruits drop out and others where skeptical but those soldiers wouldn’t last long if they were too weak to withstand a little hazing.

Then it happened, he walked up to a bright eyed recruit, a smiling boy who seemed unaware of where he was or his cringing comrades. His name was William Schaeffer, not that Jean cared much. What he cared about, what destroyed him, was the response to the question “why are you here”

"I want to join the Military Police and serve the King!" the boy grinned and all it took was one glance at the way his brown eyes lit up and suddenly Jean was looking into the eyes of a different recruit, ten years ago. He earned many strange looks at the strangled sound that escaped his throat as he quickly handed them over to someone else and left.

Marco. The name fell from his lips in a soft whisper, he could cry now that he was alone. It was surprising he still had tears to shed, it was surprising it still hurt so much. He thought the wound had healed years ago, but it was simply scabbed over and as soon as it was scratched it was bleeding again.

It knocked the wind out of his lungs, was it going to feel like this forever? Would he always remember the day ten years ago when he found the corpse of his best friend, potentially more after the battle at Trost. The memories came rushing back, the happy times leading up to it the sleepless nights after, the hollow promise to find each other after the battle.

Tomorrow Jean would have to wake up and train the new troops to fight the titans. But tonight, tonight he could mourn, he could let the tears fall freely. He could close his eyes and see that smile once again. Just for tonight, it was ten years ago when he still had Marco with him.


End file.
